Coaching: a culture shock

Coaching can help law firms to nurture and retain their existing talent, but it still needs to fully break through a culture that tends to put profits first.

By Colin White, managing director, Ortus Professional Search

Modern law firms are investing more in training and technology than ever before in a bid to increase efficiency and effectiveness. Perhaps more significantly, a greater amount of money is being spent on lateral hiring now than at any other time in the profession, and while this has a more immediate impact on the bottom line than training and development, there is also a danger it is limiting the emergence of some promising solicitors. It is similar to the situation in the top English football clubs, which have been spending enormous sums of money on importing foreign players because the prices of success and failure have become astronomical since the globalisation of the game. As ‘transfer’ fees for solicitors continue to grow, and big-name players are recruited as the ‘next big thing’, how do we make sure the promising young talent gets its chance to shine? As in sport, many people believe coaching and mentoring could be the answer.

Coaching in the law

Coaching is a globally recognised method of achieving top performance from the very best in many spheres, yet only a relatively small number of law firms have made the approach a major part of their professional development strategy.

The long-term success of any law firm, however, depends on its ability to maintain partner numbers by promoting those with the relevant skills to continue the good work of those who came before them. The modern law firm is vastly different to ten years ago, and in order for the promotion process to continue, there are new factors to be considered. Titles and money are no longer the main motivators for the most experienced solicitors – arguably a good thing as the traditional route to partnership is becoming increasingly congested. Many firms are therefore developing alternative career structures, designed to retain those who do not want, or will not achieve, partnership. The critical issue here is consultation with individuals. An environment needs to be created where people are encouraged to be honest about their career aspirations, regardless of how well they fit the traditional partnership model. If these aspirations are recognised it is more likely you will retain the best performers in an increasingly transient working environment.

The modern legal workplace

Consequently, a new environment is emerging in a number of firms, which involves looking after people as much as training them. This also means a more rounded view of development, where personalised plans are chosen because new skills are needed to proceed to each new level of responsibility. Most firms spend the majority of a development budget on the training of new solicitors, but there is an equally strong case for concentrating development on the more advanced stages of a lawyer’s career.

Many senior solicitors have said they feel abandoned when their supervising partner decides they are able to stand alone and development becomes very ad hoc. For example, one mid-level associate from a top ten city firm said: “The training here is great as long as you are no more than four years qualified. We are expected to deliver fees, guess what is required to achieve partnership and just absorb skills by osmosis.”

Historically, firms have not focused on the development of management and leadership skills. Traditionally, solicitors have been promoted to partner status based largely on their ability to build client relationships and deliver good fees. It is unsurprising that many solicitors lack the skills to make the transition from employee to business owner without strong additional support and direction.

External influences

Turning associates into partners is one of many reasons that coaching and mentoring is worth consideration. Change is inevitable. One of the most fundamental changes to the profession
is just around the corner: the new Legal Services Bill, and according to several industry leaders, external investors will not allow the current management regime to continue. Rather, they will be seeking a maximisation of profits in a sustainable fashion, and will want firms to adopt a more corporate culture.

Nigel McEwan, managing director of Cresco and a former city managing partner, explained: “There is general recognition that law firms must become better managed for two reasons; partners must engage and manage their junior staff more effectively and also generate deeper business and personal relationships with clients.”

Coaching and mentoring are two proven methods of developing these skills in business, and the opportunity to do so in a one-to-one environment may appeal to a partner who could feel exposed attending a training course with more junior delegates. Paul O’Donnell of the careers division at UCE Birmingham, said: “Feedback from both sides of the coaching and mentoring relationship has indicated it achieves positive results 99 per cent of the time.”

Case study

Thring Townsend is an example of a law firm that has implemented coaching for partner development, recently rolling out to every fee-earner and their support staff. Arlene Carson has been responsible for the sourcing and implementation of the coaching programme. “Providing each of our partners with a professional coach has, without doubt, been the single biggest factor in the transformation of our organisation,” she said. Interestingly, however, profit was not the main driver for this. “This was never about money, it was always about culture and the longer-term health of the business,” Carson continued. Financial benefits followed. This sort of thinking is still unusual in the profession, but Vanessa Williams, who recently joined the Bristol office as a corporate partner, is enthusiastic. “Everyone here seems to have an extra level of support to alleviate some of the day-to-day workplace stresses. There is a focus on developing people’s individual strengths and putting them in roles that play to those strengths.”

Resistance to change

Despite examples like Thring Townsend, however, there are still plenty of firms where coaching and mentoring programmes have been rejected for reasons other than the direct cost of implementation. Some people are of the opinion that developing broader skills in each solicitor is likely to distract them from the important business of earning fees and may negatively impact profitability. One partner, who preferred not to be named, explained: “We require our solicitors to record very challenging hours targets and time spent chatting with coaches is not chargeable. The best will continue to be promoted and the others will attain different roles within our firm or move on with minimal impact to our bottom line.” It is a strong argument in the demanding culture of the City, and illustrates that there are some significant hurdles to be cleared if this is to change. Some people are also wary of giving solicitors too many skills too early in their careers, as this may encourage them to seek challenges outside their current firms. “As soon as a person learns to drive, they want to get in a car and take off,” as one partner succinctly put it. Many don’t feel there is a need to alter the culture as it has worked for such a long time and they believe it will continue to work for the foreseeable future, but this is not an encouraging attitude for those disaffected with the profession’s pace of change.

Many people would also argue that the typical City environment breeds short-termism, providing profits at the expense of solicitors. The experience of executive search professionals shows the typical factors leading to dissatisfaction among the best solicitors are a lack of control, choice, direction and unreasonable demands.

Coaching in practice

The good news for those who agree that attitudes need to change is that coaching and mentoring programmes already exist to address three specific areas of direct benefit to both the individual and the law firm: time and energy management, job satisfaction and leadership. The first is designed to help address one of the most challenging facets of high performance in the legal environment and bring some balance back into life. With the help of a skilled coach and a committed mentor, people can identify the factors preventing them from operating at the level they could achieve.

The job satisfaction stage sees the coach trying to help the individual reclaim and restore their enthusiasm for the profession. Of course, it is impossible to fully motivate anyone without an understanding of what actually makes them tick. Moreover, promoting the wrong person into an influential role could have potentially severe results.

The third area, leadership coaching, is designed to let the individual become an effective leader with the ability to inspire and effect change in others. This is the area with the most obvious direct benefits at a senior level. Fortunately, coaching is delivered with the assumption that the individual already has the requisite talent and ability to succeed in whatever they are being prepared for and so it is delivered in a more passive fashion than most learning. It is designed to enable the individual to find his or her own answers with some gentle nudging.

There are numerous examples of how implementation of a structured and pervasive coaching and mentoring programme can foster an informed and balanced structure, enabling sustainable profits and succession. The firms that have bought into the process for longer than six months appear to be reaping the rewards and also increasing curiosity about implementing the process in
other environments. There are many credible professional organisations offering bespoke programmes to law firms. The perception that it is a bit
too ‘touchy-feely’ is currently an obstacles however, so we will need to see a much more steady flow of Stephen Gerrards and Wayne Rooneys coming through the ranks before the concept is widely adopted.

Colin White is managing director of Ortus Professional Search. He can be contacted at colin.white@ortussearch.com.